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Mario Kart designers had to rethink everything to make it open world
- thr0waway001 1y agoLooks cool! Will wait for a new Zelda game before diving into getting a Switch 2.
- matthewfcarlson 1y agoI feel like this is the sentiment I hear from most friends. But then the preorders sell out every time. I’m confused who is buying all these switches, but perhaps my local network isn’t a representative sample.
- zeroonetwothree 1y agoI don’t care for Zelda and I’d buy a Switch 2 on release if I could find one.
- dmonitor 1y agoThe Wii U also sold out. There's just a lot of Nintendo fans.
- candiddevmike 1y agoThere's rumors that Nintendo is flooding the retailers with Switch 2 units, will be interesting to see if they sell out this time/how much the demand is.
- minimaxir 1y agoSome retailers are implementing purchase limits, which implies they will not be flooded and expect scalpers.
- jsheard 1y agoScalpers will clear out the initial retail stock no matter what, the true test is whether the scalpers clear out their stock or get left holding the bag.
- badc0ffee 1y agoI ordered one. I'll play pretty much any Mario or Kirby game.
- isk517 1y agoThe sales during the launch window will only make up a fraction of lifetime sales. The average person is happy to wait for more titles and a second hand market to emerge. This also becomes more true the older you get, I do want a Switch 2 but I've reached the point were I'm no longer interested in having it Day 1.
- racl101 1y agoYeah pre-orders sell out cause diehards always buy anything. That doesn't tell us much. What happens after it has been out for a year? The real test will be if this sells even half as good as the first Switch in its first 5 years. This could be another Wii U judging from the general pessimistic sentiment people have for the brand these days. When the Wii U came out, people's biggest gripe with Nintendo was whether or not they could technologically compete with the like of Sony and Microsoft. But these days most people accept that Nintendo is not even competing technology. So rather, their bigges gripe with Nintendo is Nintendo itself and the way they show utter contempt for their customers while hiking up prices. Much more is at stake this time.
- mcphage 1y ago> I feel like this is the sentiment I hear from most friends. [...] I’m confused who is buying all these switches Well, Mario Kart 8 sold about the same as the 5 Zelda titles for the Switch put together (BotW, TotK, Link's Awakening, Skyward Sword HD, and Echoes of Wisdom). More than twice BotW, which was the best selling Zelda game for the Switch. So that's the bigger draw overall.
- AllegedAlec 1y agoYour Scientists Were So Preoccupied With Whether Or Not They Could, They Didn’t Stop To Think If They Should.
- bee_rider 1y agoThis is pithy but actually I think it benefits too much from not defining with it is. I mean, it is a game, they are a game studio, if they “can” make a fun game with a reasonable amount of developer effort, they should. If they can’t they shouldn’t. The quote relies on there being some horrible side effect of creating the thing without thinking whether or not they should do it. I think there’s no chance that this goes on to be a MOBA, which is to say I think it will never become fundamentally a force of evil.
- AllegedAlec 1y agoI grew up during the age of fads, and "Open World" is very much one of them that keeps on recurring. There's no reason whatsoever for mario kart to be open world.
- bee_rider 1y ago> There's no reason whatsoever for mario kart to be open world. My gut says the same thing (although Nintendo has pulled a rabbit out of their hat before, so I guess we’ll see… they’ve also had flops). > I grew up during the age of fads, and "Open World" is very much one of them that keeps on recurring. I dunno when you grew up, but I also grew up during an era of fads. I’m not convinced human culture is anything but a filtering and accumulation of fads.
- parpfish 1y agoI can envision a new variant of the game that replaces lapped/circuit racing with a cross-country rally race. A madcap free-for-all where you need to find your own route and scheme against opponents like the movie “rat race” could fit the game’s vibe well
- barbazoo 1y ago
- jsheard 1y agoI'm sure it'll be fun, but I'm not thrilled about Nintendo bumping the price up to $80 even before paid DLCs inevitably get added on top. Plus if the last Mario Kart is any indication then the price will barely get reduced over the entire lifecycle of the Switch 2.
- hombre_fatal 1y ago$80 today is still cheaper than paying $60 a couple decades ago. https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm Also games have only become more expensive to make since then and gamer expectations have only increased.
- op00to 1y agoGames are more expensive, but the market of gamers is larger. We can do this back and forth all day! The clear fact is that when consumers are getting squeezed, there will be backlash against price raises like this. I have never missed a Nintendo console since the Wii. I won’t be buying a switch 2.
- gjsman-1000 1y ago> Games are more expensive, but the market of gamers is larger. Actually there's been studio bankruptcy after studio bankruptcy, due to a massive contraction post-COVID, and the rise of mobile gaming eating away at casual gamers. Even Ubisoft earlier this year was having some people giving 30% odds of bankruptcy. As stated elsewhere, games have literally never been cheaper. Even at the launch of the Nintendo Switch, a $60 game in 2017 is the equivalent of $77 today. The launch price of Mario Kart World, in real purchasing power, is completely identical to what Mario Kart 8 launched at. The complaints, therefore, scream entitlement over logic - games must always be bigger, larger, better, and unaffected by 3 decades of inflation. Or it's anti-consumer, as though Nintendo put a gun to their head forcing a purchase alongside toilet paper. (In my opinion, a luxury good not in any way necessary for a good life by definition cannot be anti-consumer, or otherwise Gucci would be the king of anti-consumer practices.)
- bee_rider 1y agoI wonder if it will be fun. The open world Zelda game kinda made sense to me because those games have always been pretty open. You could always wander around. When I was a kid, I played Ocarina of Time as an open world game, I just wandered around and made up the NPC interactions in my head. And the 2D entries in the series had pretty big worlds. Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see if the trick can repeat outside that context. The open world Pokemon was pretty bad, but that series has been resting on its laurels for longer than most of the players have been alive.
- honkycat 1y agoThe Forza Horizon series are open world car games, and they are very fun and effective.
- AlwaysRock 1y agoNeed For Speed: Underground 2 and I think a decent chunk of other NFS were open world and really fun. Driving your car around in a driving game should be fun.
- walthamstow 1y agoA gamer friend described the new Mario Kart to me, a non-gamer, as "Burnout Paradise, but Mario Kart"
- badgersnake 1y agoBurnout Paradise did this to Burnout and imho, it made that game worse. If you haven’t played Burnout, go find a PS2 emulator and a Burnout 3 iso and you’ll have an amazing afternoon.
- jihadjihad 1y agoBurnout 3: Takedown was awesome but oh man, in 2025 my eyeballs cannot deal with the lower-res graphics/textures and short draw distance. Especially with things flying toward you at high speed!
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- ThatMedicIsASpy 1y agoNo video game will ever get 80+ bucks from me without a physical book/guide or statue/figure. Need for Speed Underground changed to an open world with the second release and I hated everything about it.
- throw8393494 1y agoYou can buy physical console/PC for 80$
- afavour 1y agoAs a counterpoint: I'd be irritated if I had to pay for anything physical with a game I'm buying. I'd perceive it as a waste of money and want a cheaper digital only version.
- parpfish 1y agoAlso: until you play the game, you won’t know if you’re a big enough fan to want to display some merch for it
- talles 1y agoUnderground 2 already did open world back in 2004 and it's pretty much the norm today for AAA titles. Maybe it's the Nintendo effect here, since they have history of innovation, but MK being open world it doesn't seem that impressive at all.
- MajimasEyepatch 1y agoDid you feel that way in 2005 when the Xbox 360 was released and $60 was the new standard? Because $60 in 2005 has the same buying power as $97.41 today. This game, in real terms, is cheaper than Xbox 360 games were.
- thmsths 1y agoI understand this, but the economics of software in general is that you have high upfront costs and then the marginal costs are minimal. Better tooling has helped keep these upfront costs from growing too much (developing a game in 2025 is MUCH easier than in 2005), the distribution costs have shrunk too and the size of the market has exploded. Given these is it really unreasonable for consumers to expect the prices to stay flat?
- rhodey 1y agoFirst thought is maybe something like Kirby Air Ride for GameCube
- uejfiweun 1y agoThey're making a new Kirby Air Ride too.
- bigstrat2003 1y agoI'm really not excited for this one. 12 racers was already too many, let alone doubling that number. And I have no desire, at all, for an open world Mario Kart. I thought that the open world Zelda games were un-fun and didn't live up to the previous entries in the series, and I fully expect that Mario Kart will fare even worse.
- dragontamer 1y agoA big worry from the YouTubers is the long stretches of straightaways. Mario Kart, like any racing game, has the bulk of its strategy in figuring out corners. Do you aim for the shortest path but lowest exit velocity? Do you prefer the longer, outside line, for a higher top speed when exiting the corner? Every turn is a major decision. Doubly so since Mario Karts drifting mechanic gives a new way to change the speed vs distance calculation. But with a long stretch of straightaway, that's all gone. I see that Mario Kart World has added traffic, boost zones and grinding to make the long straightaways somewhat different at least, but I have doubts it's as good as the traditional corner or turn. ----------- That being said: simplifications to kart customizations and other clear improvements shows that Nintendo truly understands the game. But it's... Bold. To try to design levels like this. I hope it works out but there's so many issues that could make things unfun.
- weberer 1y agohttps://archive.is/KX4pU https://archive.is/KX4pU
- Jyaif 1y agoI've been wanting a game with the physics of Rocket League, but where you are just driving around in a big environment with weird architecture and completing silly objectives. It looks like this game will be finally scratching this itch.
- jeron 1y agoit's not particularly novel - The Crew has been out since 2014 and we have 5 different Forza Horizons. I'm sure they just playtested that and moved over Mario Kart IP
- treetalker 1y agoSo, the fungal fruiting body on Toad is his head, not a hat; yet in the game it sometimes becomes a hamburger, and the player should consider what it really is. This is one of the deep secrets of the universe — and clearly the most important part of the article. More questions than answers …
- orangebread 1y agoWasn't Diddy Kong racing kind of open world?
- scomu 1y agoMore of a hub and spoke.